Manuel Pellegrini carried out his threat to play the kids in this FA Cup tie, drafting in three debutants - centre back Tosin Adarabioyo, midfielder Aleix Garcia, and striker David Faupala - as well as giving a run-out to teenagers Manu Garcia and Bersant Celina.

And with Cameron Humphreys and Brandon Barker on the bench, it is an extremely young, raw City team as Pellegrini makes his point that switching the game to Sunday, with a Champions League tie against Dynamo Kiev three days away, was unfair.

City fans have been wanting to see the City academy products for some time, but no-one hankered after such a wholesale introduction - and at Stamford Bridge, against resurgent champions, and in front of a worldwide TV audience, it is asking a lot.

Pellegrini has stuck two fingers up at the FA and the BBC, but you have to wonder - after telling fans they should not bother watching - whether he has done the right thing for the wrong reason.

If this young team show up well, and escape with at least an honourable defeat, it will be worthwhile - if they lose heavily and events in Kiev and in the League Cup final next week don’t go well, the manager will not be popular.